Box Score MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (Oct. 29) - Sophomore Dylan Hoy's free-kick goal was the difference in Wesleyan University's 1-0 men's soccer victory over Connecticut College in the final game of regular-season play here today at Jackson Field.
The Cardinals end the regular season with an 8-5-2 overall record, 6-4 in conference play. Wesleyan will travel to Middlebury as the fifth seed to play the fourth-seeded Panthers in the first round of the NESCAC tournament Saturday Nov. 1. Connecticut College drops to 6-8-1 with its third consecutive loss, and is now 3-6-1 in the NESCAC. Connecticut College, as the eighth seed, will travel to top-seeded Tufts Saturday for its first-round playoff contest. This was the fifth consecutive 1-0 game played between the Cardinals and Camels with Wesleyan winning four of them. Wesleyan is now 31-8-2 all-time vs. Connecticut College.
Each team had their opportunities to take control of the game with back and forth play. Wesleyan held a 14-12 advantage on shots, and had five corner kicks to the Camels four. But it was Hoy's free kick from about 22 yards away that snuck over the Connecticut College defensive wall and dipped inside the left post to beat freshman goalie Daniel Cui, and give the Cardinals the 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute.
Cui finished with six saves in the loss and now has 24 for the season, while the Cardinals' senior keeper Emmett McConnell stopped three shots in his fifth shutout of the year. McConnell finished the regular season with an 8-3-2 record, an 84.3 save percentage, an 0.56 goals per game average with 43 saves over 1278 minutes of play.
The lone goal was Hoy's first of the season, and the fourth of his career. The Cardinals trip to Middlebury will be the team's second trip in as many weekends, as they lost 3-1 to the Panthers on Saturday, Oct. 25. A major difference this weekend will be the fact that starting goalie Emmett McConnell will be in net. McConnell was red-carded in the Cardinals' home game last Thursday against Trinity College for touching the ball outside of the box, and had to sit out the weekend trip the Middlebury.
Wesleyan enters the NESCAC tournament for the 15th consecutive season and has an 8-12-2 all-time record in tournament play. The Cardinals have faced Middlebury three times in the NESCAC playoffs since 2000 and have lost all three. Most recently, the seventh seeded Panthers knocked out the second seeded Cardinals in the first round in 2011. The Camels are making their seventh NESCAC tournament appearance and have never been seeded higher than sixth with an 0-6 tournament posting.
